Social media could affect self-esteem of women

Social media active young women who engage
with social media images of friends who they think are more attractive than
themselves may feel worse about their own appearance afterward! Results to this
effect is published in the journal Body Image by researchers of York
University.

"The results showed that these
young adult women felt more dissatisfied with their bodies," says Mills,
one of the research scholar. "They felt worse about their own appearance
after looking at social media pages of someone that they perceived to be more
attractive than them. Even if they felt bad about themselves before they came
into the study, on average, they still felt worse after completing the
task."

Young women generally post something to
social media are hoping to get positive reinforcement for what they're posting
and the way in which women use social media is more appearance-based than it is
for men.

"When we compare ourselves to
other people, that has the potential to affect the valuation of
ourselves," says Mills. We really need to educate young people on how
social media use could be making them feel about themselves and how this could
even be linked to stringent dieting, eating disorders or excessive exercise.
There are people who may be triggered by social media and who are especially
vulnerable."